Anti-American sentiment in Germany

{{Short description|Dislike of the American government or people in Germany}}

File:DemonstrationRaketenStationierung1982.jpg deployment in Germany, 1982.]]

Anti-American sentiment in Germany is the dislike of the American government or peopleChiozza, Giacomo (2009). Anti-Americanism and the World Order. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. present in Germany. Anti-Americanism has been present in Germany throughout history with several notable incidents. Anti-Americanism was advanced by local leaders under the influence of the former Soviet Union, during the Cold War in East Germany, with dissenters being punished. In West Germany, this sentiment was generally limited to left wing politicians.Dan Diner, America in the eyes of the Germans: an essay on anti-Americanism (1996).

Scholars such as Noam Chomsky and Nancy Snow have argued that the application of the term "anti-American" to the population of other countries does not make any sense, as it implies that not liking the American government or its policies is socially undesirable or even comparable to a crime.{{Cite web|last=Chomsky|first=Noam|date=1993|title=Totalitarian Culture in a Free Society|url=https://archive.org/details/NoamChomsky-TotalitarianCultureInAFreeSociety-1993|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-27|website=Internet Archive}}{{Cite book|last=Snow|first=Nancy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69992247|title=The Arrogance of American Power: What U.S. Leaders Are Doing Wrong and Why It's Our Duty to Dissent|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2006|isbn=0-7425-5373-6|location=Lanham, MD|pages=27ff|oclc=69992247}} In this regard, Chomsky likened the term to the propagandistic usage of the term "anti-Sovietism" in the USSR.

History

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0703-507, Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Rede Adolf Hitler.jpg to the Reichstag on 11 December 1941.]]

{{Plain image with caption|Bundesarchiv Bild 183-07670-0050, Berlin, Antiamerikanische Parole "Go home, Ami".jpg|The anti-American slogan “Go home, Ami” in West Berlin on the former sector border (the streets of Bernauer Straße and Schwedter Straße (1950). The sign to the left saying (in German) "Entrance to the French sector" was painted over.|upright|right|bottom}}

{{Plain image with caption|File:Fotothek df roe-neg 0006166 016 Schüler machen Hausaufgaben.jpg|Children’s home in the GDR (East Germany) 1951. The slogan can be seen on the blackboard.|upright|right|bottom}}

File:Donald_Trump_(25681459801).jpg fuelling anti-Americanism in Germany.]]

During 1820-40 era, hostility toward America stemmed from its perceived cultural inferiority.Gerrit-Jan Berendse, "German anti-Americanism in context." Journal of European Studies 33.3-4 (2003): 333-350. Between 1820 and 1870, more than seven and a half million German immigrants came to the United States, buying farms or taking industrial jobs. Few returned to their homeland.Guido A. Dobbert, "German-Americans between New and Old Fatherland, 1870–1914". American Quarterly 19 (1967): 663–680 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2710894 online].

=World Wars=

Germany and the United States were at war 1917-1918 and 1941-1945.

=Divided Germany=

Anti-Americanism was common while Germany was divided after the Second World War. This anti-American sentiment was present in both West and East Germany. However, it was mostly present in East Germany due to Soviet and East German propaganda. Many Germans hated America because of capitalism in general, or because of the humiliation the Allies brought on them after World War Two.

Some right wingers saw the United States as a protector against communism, while others saw the American way of life as uncultured.{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2015/02/05/ami-go-home|title=Ami Go Home|newspaper=The Economist|date=February 5, 2015|access-date=December 6, 2021}}

Since 1950,“Zusatz (Addition).” In: Der Spiegel No. 18, 1950 [https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-44448194.html (online)] many European communist parties and their supporters used the slogan against the presence of US soldiers: In 1951, "disruptive troops of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and Free German Youth" on West Berlin train stations had adhesive strips with the slogan "Ami go home!" written on those strips. However, these protests were declared "unlawful" by the West Berlin Police Chief.{{citation|title=Im S-Bahn-Schacht verschütt (Spilled in the S-Bahn shaft) |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-29193404.html|author=|work=Der Spiegel|year=1951|volume=|issue=10|series=16 July|pages=|quote=}} In addition, the slogan “Yankee go home” was used mainly in countries where a strong Political Left turned against the US military presence within the framework of NATO, as in France (until 1966) or Italy.

In the 1960s, the slogan was used in response to the Vietnam War by the extra-parliamentary opposition and remained current during the time of the peace movement in the 1970s. After that, it increasingly disappeared from public perception, but rather passed into general language with an ironic undertone.cf. e.g. B. [http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/studium/0,1518,191200.00.html "Ami go home"] (Article on US students at British universities), Spiegel Online, 12. April 2002 The Iraq War gave the slogan new popularity in political demands since 2003.

=21st century=

Anti-Americanism reappeared among some intellectuals after the attacks on 11 September 2001 because of the perceived links between globalisation, Americanisation, and terrorism.Berendse, "German anti-Americanism in context." Journal of European Studies 33.3-4 (2003): 333-350.

The War in Iraq in 2003 was highly unpopular at all levels of German society.Tuomas Forsberg, "German foreign policy and the war on Iraq: Anti-Americanism, pacifism or emancipation?." Security Dialogue 36.2 (2005): 213-231. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder stated that Germany would refuse to provide troops or money for the Invasion of Iraq.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/06/iraq.johnhooper|title=German leader says no to Iraq war|first=John|last=Hooper|date=6 August 2002|website=The Guardian}}{{cite journal|author=Tuomas Forsberg|title=German foreign policy and the war on Iraq: Anti-Americanism, pacifism or emancipation?|journal=Security Dialogue|year=2005|volume=36|issue=2|pages=213–231|doi=10.1177/0967010605054649}}

With the election of Donald Trump, there have been renewed fears among American think-tanks about the rise of anti-American sentiment in Germany.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/world/europe/germany-trump-antiamericanism.html|title=German Foreign Policy Experts Warn Against Anti-Americanism|work=The New York Times|first=Steven|last=Erlanger|date=October 11, 2017|access-date=December 6, 2021}} Donald Trump, the grandson of a German immigrant, has been noted for his euroscepticism,{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/minutes/136130/donald-trump-calling-mr-brexit|title=Why is Donald Trump calling himself "Mr. Brexit"?|magazine=The New Republic|first=Eric|last=Kleefeld|date=August 18, 2016|access-date=December 6, 2021}} while Germany is one of the most Pro-EU countries in the world. In 2017, German magazine Stern published a cover depicting Donald Trump performing the Nazi salute, with the inscription Sein Kampf, in reference to Mein Kampf.{{cite news|url=https://torontosun.com/2017/08/25/sein-kampf-german-magazine-sterns-controversial-cover/wcm/928f9aae-f40b-4db0-87a2-3a9fe9446acb|title='Sein Kampf': German magazine Stern's controversial cover|newspaper=Toronto Sun|agency=Associated Press|date=August 25, 2017|access-date=December 6, 2021}} Germans have generally been more negative about their relations with the United States than most other European countries.{{cite web|url=http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/23/1-americas-global-image/|title=America's Global Image|date=23 June 2015|website=pewresearch.org|access-date=December 6, 2021}} Trump was routinely criticised by German politicians, such as Chancellor Angela Merkel.{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/merkel-trump-congresswomen//|title=Merkel criticizes Trump attacks on congresswomen|date=19 July 2019|website=politico.eu|access-date=December 14, 2022}}

In films

In Billy Wilder's film One, Two, Three – which takes place in divided Berlin shortly before the construction of the Berlin Wall – the modified slogan "Yankee go home" is written on balloons. Justification of the writer, who comes from the America's southern states in the film, where the term "Yankee" is used for Americans from northern states: "It doesn't say 'Ami go home', but 'Yankee go home', and nobody likes it!"

In literature

A selection of literature in German contains the words "Ami go home" in the title. These include:

Amt für Information der Regierung der DDR (Office for Information of the Government of the GDR), (ed.) Ami go home. Warum die Amis heimgehen sollen (Ami go home. Why the Americans Should Go home). Die Wahrheit dem Volke, Heft 7 (The Truth to the People, Issue 7), Deutscher Zentralverlag, Berlin, 1950 (German Central Publishing House, Berlin, 1950.)
Ernst Busch, Hanns Eisler: Ami – go home! Ernst Busch (ed.): Friedenslieder. Heft 2 (Peace Songs, Volume 2), Verlag Lied der Zeit (Songs of the Time Publishing House), Berlin o.J. (1952)
James Wakefield Burke: Ami go home. Ein Roman aus unseren Tagen (Ami go home. A Novel from our Days), Amsel, Berlin, 1954
Reinhard Federmann [de]: Ami go home. Stück in 25 Szenen (Ami go home. Piece in 25 Scenes), Sessler, Pfarrkirchen, Munich o.J. [around 1983]
{{interlanguage link|Rolf Winter (journalist)|lt=Rolf Winter|de|Rolf_Winter_(Journalist)|}}: Ami go home: Plädoyer für den Abschied von einem gewalttätigen Land (Ami go home: Plea for the Farewell to a Violent Country), Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-89136-288-9
{{Interlanguage link|Ingrid Bauer (historian)|lt=Ingrid Bauer|de|Ingrid Bauer (Historikerin)|}}: Welcome, Ami go home. die amerikanische Besatzung in Salzburg 1945–1955; Erinnerungslandschaften aus einem Oral-history-Projekt (Welcome, Ami go home. The American Occupation in Salzburg 1945–1955; Memory Landscapes from an Oral History Project), Pustet, Salzburg 1998, ISBN 3-7025-0371-4
Wilhelm Langthaler, Werner Pirker: Ami go home. Zwölf gute Gründe für einen Antiamerikanismus (Twelve Good Reasons for anti-Americanism), Promedia Vienna 2003 ISBN 978-3-85371-204-7